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Abstract

Purpose:

The main purpose of this study was to investigate what leads customers to ethnocentrism and the effects of ethnocentrism on their attitudes towards purchase intentions. The other objective was to study product preferences of different age cohorts towards herbal products and the influence of role model on their purchase intention behaviours.

Research methodology:

Results are derived from primary data collected from a customer sample in New Delhi, India during the months of May–June, 2015. Data analysis was done using Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS), version 20.

Findings:

This article identified that consumer ethnocentrism level differs according to age cohorts. For Baby Boomers and Generation X cohort, multiple linear regression analysis inferred that consumer ethnocentrism was the best predictor of purchase intention behaviour. In the case of Generation Y cohort, indirect role model, direct role model and consumer ethnocentrism did not significantly contribute to the purchase intention of Generation Y cohort.

Practical implications:

The research finding will be very useful in providing insight into Indian herbal product marketers to devise marketing strategies. The article contributes to research on consumer ethnocentrism by confirming some of the earlier findings with the help of a consumer sample from northern India.

Contributions:

This research study contributes to the existing literature by analysing the impact of consumer ethnocentrism and role model influence on purchase intention of customers on a diverse range of herbal product categories, using an age-cohort analysis.

Research limitations:

Consumers were asked to evaluate the attributes of herbal products without reference to any specific company/brand, and this could be one of the limitations of the study.

Keywords

Consumer ethnocentrism herbal products cohort analysis

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Consumer Ethnocentrism and Influence of Role Model on Generational Cohorts’ Purchase Intentions towards Herbal Products